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Taxi - The Complete First SeasonRating:
Release Date: 12 October, 2004 Retail Price: $38.99 OUR Price: $31.19 You SAVE: $7.80! Cast: |
Taxi - The Complete First Season Reviews
"Good Night Mr. Walters! (UMMM.)"
The opening credits show a lone cab going over a bridge. You hear a lonely recorder start a simple tune. Suddenly the drums & bass kick in and a sultry sax joins along, creating Bob James' jazzy theme song to the wonderful television comedy, "Taxi". Whenever, I hear that theme, I'm put into a 1970's, New York state of mind with Pavlovian expectations, that I'm about to be treated to first class entertaiment."Taxi" was a truely great sitcom, that ran from 1978-1983. In it's original run the show never had high audience ratings nor much respect from the two different TV networks it ran on. Today it's considered a TV comedy classic. For anyone, who dosn't know, the show mainly takes place within the confounds of the garage of the 'Sunshine Cab Company'. It is here, that we hang out with the company cabbies & other employees, who are trying to earn a living, while they pursue their dreams. The company's diminutive & extremely nasty Dispatcher, Louie De Palma (Danny DeVito) would term these wannabes as a "bunch of losers". (Of course the company's foreign mechanic, Latka Gravis (Andy Kaufman) would respond "What a Yacabey!") The cabbies include would-be actor, Bobby Wheeler (Jeff Conway), not very bright, fighter Tony Banta (Tony Danza), divorced mom/hopeful art gallery employee, Elaine Nardo (Marilu Henner) and student/future forrest ranger, John Burns (Randall Carver). Alex Reiger (Judd Hirsh) is the only cabbie, who actually admits that he's a cabbie for a living. Alex is the everyman, that everyone else seems to go to for advice to solve their problems and a shoulder to cry on. All these characters have their faults, but they also have a lot of heart. Thats why we both empathize and laugh at the mistakes and situations, they get themselves into. There ar two components that made this show a classic. One, would be the excellent writing by TV writing veterens such as James L. Brooks, Glen Charles, Glenn Gordon Carron, Ed Weinberger Etc. The other reason is the amazing ensemble cast of actors, who just hilariously work together like a well oiled, comedy machine. It can't get much better than these guys! Now, the show is being put out by Paramount in the DVD format, season by season. Season 1 is a three disc set, that includes such classic episodes as "Sugar Mama" (Alex becomes septagenarium, Ruth Gordon's paid escort), "High Scool Reunion" (which includes Bobby's killer, Louie impersonation) and "Paper Marriage (the first introduction of Rev. Jim Ignatowski). The DVD's picture & sound are O.K., but nothing fancy. Unfortunately Paramount gives us absolutely nothing in extras. It's a bare bones release at a luxuary price. It would have been nice to get a short documentry or some commentaries from the show's actors & creators. Though this is a fault, I would still recommend this release simply because the show is TV comedy at it's best! It will simply have you laughing your head off! Highly recommended!
This is such an excellent TV series
I love Taxi. I started watching it on reruns in the mid '90s. I watched a ton of them, and I could have sworn that I saw all of them. However, to my surprise, I think I've only seen about 75% of the episodes. I bet you'll find that, too, if you've been a long term fan, that there are a lot of shows that you haven't seen.
I love the first episode where Danny De Vito steps out of his office for the first time, and you see how short he is. Of course that's no surprise now, since Danny De Vito is a household word, but I thought it was very interesting how dramatic they were about his height in the first episode.
Jim Ignatowski is on the first season for just one episode as a guest star. He starts appearing as a regular in Season 2.
This season has my favorite episode, which is High School Reunion, where Bobbie pretends to be Louie for Louie's High School Reunion.
Top notch fun--buy this immediately!
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